Joint R&D Centre

The UK-China Joint R&D Centre for Future Wireless Networks was officially opened on Tuesday, 29th May 2012, during the final workshop of the UK-China Science Bridges Project: R&D on (B)4G Wireless Mobile Communications (UC4G) at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh (see the news release from Heriot-Watt University).

Prof. Steve Chapman, the principal of Heriot-Watt University and Mr. Futao Chen, Minister Counsellor, Science & Technology Section, China Embassy in London, jointly unveiled a plaque to mark the official launch of the joint R&D centre. Also present were Prof. Stephen McLaughlin, Head of School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Heriot-Watt University, Prof. Peter Grant, Head of School of Engineering and Electronics at the University of Edinburgh, Prof. Joe McGeehan, Director of the Centre for Communications Research at the University of Bristol, Prof. Cheng-Xiang Wang, the Principal Investigator of the UC4G project and a Professor of wireless communications at Heriot-Watt University, along with over sixty workshop attendees from industry and academia in both the UK and China.

Aims

With the aim to provide a platform for research and knowledge exchange on future wireless networks between British and Chinese academia and industry, the UK-China Joint R&D Centre for Future Wireless Networks was jointly proposed by 25 organisations including 11 British universities (Heriot-Watt University, University of Edinburgh, University of Bristol, etc,.), Mobile VCE, Shanghai Research Centre for Wireless Communications (WiCO), Southeast University of China, BUPT, HUST, Tsinghua University, China Mobile, Huawei and ZTE.

Operation Mode

The joint centre includes a steering committee, an executive committee and two secretaries (one from the UK and one from China).

The steering committee is made up of senior consortium members of the UC4G project, and is in charge of consulting the operation of the joint centre.

The executive committee consists of a board of 7 representatives from both sides of UK and China, taking care of the daily operation and decision making. With the help of two executive secretaries, the 7 board members chair the executive committee in a rotating manner every year.

As the contact of the joint centre, secretaries are in charge of executing decisions from the executive committee.

The British and Chinese head offices of the joint centre will be in Heriot-Watt University and WiCO, respectively.

The joint centre will run under a membership programme. Besides the members of the UC4G project, any applicants from British /Chinese academia/industry can become eligible members of the joint centre after passing the evaluation of the executive committee.